Ms. Kwon young hee, a poet from Korea shares her poem
Hailing from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, poet Kwon young hee made her literary debut in 2007 through the literary magazine Yusim. She has published poetry collections including The Time of Misreading and The Snail’s Star. In 2015, she was awarded a creative grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. She also received the Newcomer Award from the Garam Sijo Literary Award. She has served as Deputy Secretary General for organizations such as the Korean Sijo Poets Association, Today’s Sijo Poets Society, and the Korean Women Writers Association, and currently holds positions as a standing advisor and director. Additionally, she worked for the Lee Hyo-seok Literary Foundation, served as an arts instructor, and was the president of the Yusim Sijo Academy.
A Warm Afternoon
With her son, his hair already turning half gray,
Held proudly before her like a medal,
An old mother, her face gracefully lined with wrinkles,
Comes to the department store to shop,
And a bright smile blossoms, lighting up her eyes.
“Mother, how about this? Do you like it?”
Perhaps it is love, the kind that has only ever been given,
Flowing back across to her,
So that today her white hair, in thick waves, seems fuller, more radiant than ever.
***
따뜻한 오후
반백의 아들을 견장처럼 앞세우고
곱게 주름진 노모 백화점에 쇼핑와선
두 눈이 환해지도록 웃음꽃이 돋는다
어머니, 이거 어때요? 마음에 드세요?
주기만 한 사랑이 건너오는 중인지
백발의 굵은 웨이브 오늘 한껏 부푼다
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